AICPA Tech+ Update: Sage Unveils Peachtree 2008 Line

Sage Software today launched its Peachtree by Sage 2008 product line, a selection of software targeted at the small business market. In addition to performance enhancements, small businesses will see more user-control capabilities, along with improvements for producing more specific information output for their needs, especially in reporting, to encourage better business management. "They want to get the numbers right, and put in the effort to do that so they can make the right decisions," said Shari Willman, product manager for Peachtree, about the product line's customers at the American Institute of CPAs' Tech+ Information Technology Conference, here. The culmination of roughly 18 months of work, Peachtree by Sage was influenced by more than 100 customers in Sage's "Customer Connected Design Center," so customers could take part in identifying opportunities to enhance functionality and introduce new features. "We really changed the product considerably in 2007, so in 2008 we improved on that," Willman said. Among some of the changes in this release are 100 new fields, 50 new filters and 30 new sorting options for information within the accounting report functionality. Peachtree by Sage 2008 also includes a new Transaction Detail Report, which is a comprehensive report that enables small businesses to see key information related to any transaction from one location. More aesthetic-improvement features have been added, including a design screen that aims to offer more flexibility for adding color, logos and other information to customize the standard layout on forms such as invoices, sales orders and other transactionary documents. The software also includes a new document management function that enables small businesses to add attachments to records such as vendors, employees, inventory items, payroll checks or quotes directly within the product. The 2008 product line keeps consistent with its separate offerings for industry niches such as accounting, manufacturing, nonprofits, construction and distribution. Peachtree by Sage 2008 comes in four packages -- basic, standard, advanced and premium. Peachtree Quantum by Sage 2008, the company's top-of-the line offering that can serve up to 10 users and has access to all industry-specific features, is also available. Included with Peachtree Quantum is Peachtree Quantum Business Care, an extensive service plan that includes product updates and upgrades that become available within 12 months of the product purchase date, access to online training and one year of unlimited access to customer support. For more information, call (800) 228-0068.